Re: Today’s match v Giants : Mon Feb 17, 2025 8:14 pm  

Leyland i believe played every game last year starting in the halves, so he's played every team twice. So he's not nervous of any team, i think he should have gotten the nod but i get his thinking (to a degree) that he properbly went for more experience.
Burgess does make odd selections from time to time but i assume he goes with hit gut feeling, and it's steered us well so far. I'm not the coach but i believe there are a few better choices on players to pick each week, that would improve us. But i'm an average joe, and Burgess is a Legend so i'll leave it to him.

Re: Today’s match v Giants : Mon Feb 17, 2025 9:09 pm  

I think we should have expected an out of sorts display yesterday, The friendlies have consisted of mostly new or reserve players & the Huddersfield game was the first run out for most of the first team.

Re: Today’s match v Giants : Tue Feb 18, 2025 9:10 am  

rubber duckie wrote:

I don’t get the Ratchford bashing.
You don’t forget how to ride a bike.
He is older that means if he’s injured, it may take him a bit longer to recover.
But the guy is fit, and so is better than Hayes and Leyland.

I haven’t forgotten how to ride a bike but I’m considerably slower and a lot more cautious.

Re: Today’s match v Giants : Tue Feb 18, 2025 9:15 am  

sirlesboyd2 wrote:

IIm a very simple person ... in my opinion the only way to decide whether Sam Burgess made the right decision is to look at the score line .. We won ... Therefore he picked the right team for the game

What it proves is it was good enough to win. It doesn’t mean he couldn’t have picked a better team. I have been a big fan of Stef but was disappointed he didn’t give Leyland the start.

Re: Today’s match v Giants : Tue Feb 18, 2025 9:22 am  

ninearches wrote:

I think we should have expected an out of sorts display yesterday, The friendlies have consisted of mostly new or reserve players & the Huddersfield game was the first run out for most of the first team.

The team have had months of preseason to prepare and we had the choice of what team to pick in the friendlies and the Challenge Cup game.

We were dog dirt in that first half, save for a bit of excellence from Lindop, and were lucky we were not playing a better side.

Re: Today’s match v Giants : Tue Feb 18, 2025 9:29 am  

rubber duckie wrote:

I don’t get the Ratchford bashing.
You don’t forget how to ride a bike.
He is older that means if he’s injured, it may take him a bit longer to recover.
But the guy is fit, and so is better than Hayes and Leyland.

Leyland was fit, least injury was not cited as the reason for absence.

Nah Sam dropped a bollock there with that selection. Why sign a back up half and play him in all the preseason if you are not going to play him when your first choice half is out? What happened to "next man up" ?

Are we really going to see Ratch at halfback vs Wigan in Vegas?

Re: Today’s match v Giants : Tue Feb 18, 2025 11:07 am  

I think the Leyland non-selection has been one of the biggest selection shocks, for so many, for some time. Why did we sign him? He'd looked so lively in the early games. He is likely to get his chance but he must be gutted.

Re: Today’s match v Giants : Tue Feb 18, 2025 11:42 am  

Smiffy27 wrote:

I think the Leyland non-selection has been one of the biggest selection shocks, for so many, for some time. Why did we sign him? He'd looked so lively in the early games. He is likely to get his chance but he must be gutted.

Sam's selections have been refreshingly bold thus far, so yes, this one raised eyebrows all round, I think (except for Abe!). Leyland knew he was in a fight with Hayes for a starting spot, but he probably didn't expect to be behind Stef in the pecking order. It will be interesting to see if Sam sticks with Stef. As Wires71 suggests, taking on Wigan with Stef in the halves would be a big gamble, even by Las Vegas standards!

Re: Today’s match v Giants : Tue Feb 18, 2025 12:28 pm  

Even legends like Sam make mistakes, but as alluded to earlier, we did win after all. It's a different argument if we lost/lose with this selection.

Re: Today’s match v Giants : Tue Feb 18, 2025 1:46 pm  

My guess is Sam is just more confident with Ratch in there, I would imagine defensively he's a better option as well.

That said I expected - and hoped - we would see Leyland in these first 5 games to compare vs Hayes, I thought Leyland took the line on more and his kicking from hand was much better than we've seen from a Wire player in a couple of years.